Tuesday, October 04, 2011

I hope the "Lovie Awards" wither and die

So, today, Stephen Fry has pimped the impending Lovie Awards as they have extended the deadline for entries (I wonder why?). I hope this is a sign that there will be one and only one Lovie Awards ceremony. Here's why.

Secondly, the awards are riding on the fairly recent visibility of Ada Lovelace by naming them nauseatingly the Lovies. With the following even more nauseating copy (my emphasis):

‘Lovie’, named in honour of Ada Lovelace, represents outstanding achievement in computer technology. Ada Lovelace is credited as being the first programmer and is a lasting symbol of European innovation and creative ingenuity.

The heart is a universal symbol for love and represents the passion evoked by awesomeness on the internet. No other medium has created such enthusiastic, dedicated followers quite like the web!

The bolded part made me cringe. Naming them after Lovelace is a cheap attempt to make the awards look European.

Thirdly, I am strongly opposed to award ceremonies that require entrants to pay. They have very high-profile sponsors; let them pay. This is particularly poor here in Europe where it just looks like a US organization being parasitic on the burgeoning European Internet and start-up scene.

I won't be looking to see who 'wins', and I hope these awards die and something home grown comes about.

PS Also the name is awful for a second reason. In the UK the term luvvy means, typically, an actor or actress who is overly effusive about their profession and about other members of it. Totally the wrong image for this, and getting Stephen Fry to pimp it borders on self-parody.